Southern Moderate African American Issues

Opioids: Thinning the Herd?

The term “thinning the herd” comes to mind when I think about the private discussions ultra conservatives have regarding public health and ethics. It’s messy business to mix our faith beliefs and mores with the public policy of a diverse nation and world.

In ranching, you evaluate your cattle to determine which ones will make it and you make hard decisions about the rest. For humans, applying this concept is similar to Darwinian evolutionary theory or Survival of the Fittest. The best America to me would be one in which everyone has a fair shot at a nice life. Conversely, those who don’t grind hard or make poor decisions will deal with the consequences. Of course, we could break out Jesus teachings on caring for the poor…your brethren.

In the 1980s, I had a feeling that some hardcore conservatives saw AIDS and Crack as thinning the herd. Today, we are in the middle of a healthcare debate and Crack is replaced by opioids addiction. When President Obama was trying to provide healthcare for as many people as possible, some thought “let the uninsured die”….thinning the herd.

Oh, they voted for Trump to Make America Great Again…more like Make America Hate Again. With all of her issues and warts, America is now and has always been great.

But, wait. President Trump breaks out a budget and some folks are surprise that they too have been eating at the public trough. “Yea, lock up the crackhead and toss away the key in the 80s but this new drug has hit my family in the heartland…time for government funded treatment.” We should pray that everyone breaks the chains of addiction.

Regarding abortion choice, the Clintons, the Obamas and I think abortions should be safe, legal and very rare. Obviously, they are rare if fewer unwanted pregnancies occurred in the first place and I personally hope that people would explore options as early as possible. But, it’s hard to impose your faith’s views on the nation as a whole. If the founding fathers wanted to declare Christianity as the official religion of this nation, they would have.

The same people who are against early abortions support zero assistance to poor “born” babies and children. They aren’t pro-life; they are just pro-birth. If you are deep enough to conceptualize your unborn children, you should be compassionate enough toward them to have them when you can afford them. If you never have the money or proper situation, you never have children. I don’t know the answers. To me, heaven sent every baby on earth down here but I also see people and think “that person needs a baby like a fish needs a bicycle.”

We need single-payer, universal coverage healthcare in America. Look, the uninsured use the emergency room as a doctor’s office. They wait until an easily treated issue becomes an expensive matter… $100 to $100,000 and the government still gets the bill.

I am also guilty of a little “thinning the herd” mentality. My favorite blog post was “Fat On Food Stamps” because how did you get fat on public assistance. Okay, I am over simplifying the situation but we need doctors to sound the alarm during annual physicals. And if someone insist on unhealthy behavior, they dug their own grave… my goodness, I am a conservative Democrat. I hope the progressives don’t thin the Democrat herd of me.